Hearthstone

Patch 29.6.2, launching today, brings balance changes and more!

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: This is a smaller patch, designed to prepare for the launch of Perils in Paradise by weakening a few cards that are warping the meta in a way that could stifle new expansion development. As a note, we want to let that early post-expansion meta develop a bit before we step in, so our next major balance pass is scheduled for slightly later than the last few (about two weeks after expansion launch instead of about 10 days).

Reno, Lone Ranger

• Old: [9 Mana]
• New: [10 Mana]

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Virus Module)

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Celestial Projectionist

• Old: [2 Mana] 3/2
• New: [3 Mana] 3/3

The above craftable cards will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 29.6.2.

Twist Updates

Dev Comment: The overall goal of these changes is to move more Heroes towards the 35 Health range. This means that, generally speaking, Heroes that had less than 35 Health before this patch had their decks adjusted to be weaker, while Heroes that had more than 35 Health before this patch had their decks (and sometimes effects) adjusted to be stronger. After these changes, we’ll continue using Health as our more regular tuning knob.

Hero Effect Changes

I am Inevitable! (C’Thun's Passive)

• Old: C’Thun starts in your hand. After two friendly minions die, give your C’Thun +1/+1.
• New: C’Thun starts in your hand. After three friendly minions die, give your C’Thun +2/+2.

Boom Barrage (Dr. Boom's Passive)

• Old: After a friendly mech dies, shuffle a Bomb into your opponent’s deck.
• New: After a friendly mech dies, shuffle a Bomb into your opponent’s deck and gain 1 Armor.

Feral Frenzy (Guff Runetotem's Hero Power)

• Old: [1 Mana] +1 Attack this turn. Usable twice a turn.
• New: [1 Mana] +1 Attack this turn. Can be used three times in a turn.

New Hero Health Totals

The following heroes now have more Health:

• Al’Akir, the Windlord: 35
• Kael’thas Sunstrider: 35
• Nozdormu: 35
• The Lich King: 35
• Forest Warden Omu: 35
• Zul’jin: 35
• Arfus: 30

The following heroes now have less Health:

• Illidan Stormrage: 35
• Leeroy Jenkins: 35
• C’Thun: 35
• King Krush: 35
• Dr. Boom: 35
• N’Zoth, the Corruptor: 35
• Brann Bronzebeard: 35
• Guff Runetotem: 35

Hero Deck Changes

The following heroes have had their decks adjusted:

• Illidan Stormrage
• Al’Akir, the Windlord
• Leeroy Jenkins
• Kael’thas Sunstrider
• C’Thun
• Nozdormu
• The Lich King
• Sir Finley Mrrgglton
• King Krush
• Forest Warden Omu
• Dr. Boom
• Zul’jin
• N’Zoth, the Corruptor
• Brann Bronzebeard
• Guff Runetotem
• Arfus

Dev Comment: That’s everyone except for Arch-Villain Rafaam, Xyrella, and Patches the Pirate. New decklists will be viewable from the Hero Selection screen in-game after this patch is live.

Battlegrounds Updates

Dev Comment: We hope you're enjoying the return of Buddies as well as their debut in Duos. In this patch, we're primarily addressing Buddy performance outliers. Most of these are Tier adjustments, though some have additional changes where Tier would not have been sufficient. In addition, we also made some minion adjustments to reduce frustrating play patterns with Beasts, repeated Battlecries, and, frankly, crimes in Duos. We also gave a bit more support to underperfoming Types. We'll continue to monitor the meta as it develops and make more adjustments as needed.

Hero Power Changes

Alexstrasza

• Old: [Passive] At the start of your turn, Discover a Dragon. (Unlocks at Tier 4.)
• New: [1 Gold] Discover a Dragon. (Unlocks at Tier 4.)

Onyxia

• Old: [Passive] Avenge (3): Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.
• New: [Passive] Avenge (4): Summon a 3/1 Whelp. It attacks immediately.

Hero Armor Changes

The following heroes have been adjusted to have less Armor:

• Galewing now has 8 Armor, and 5 Armor in Duos.
• Scabbs Cutterbutter now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
• Murloc Holmes now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
• Xyrella now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Rokara now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Varden Dawngrasp now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Heistbaron Togwaggle now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Thorim Stormlord now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Rock Master Voone now has 15 Armor, and 12 Armor in Duos.

The following heroes have been adjusted to have more Armor:

• Doctor Holli’dae now has 8 Armor, and 5 Armor in Duos.
• Alexstrasza now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
• Queen Azshara now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
• Onyxia now has 10 Armor, still has 7 Armor in Duos.
• Overlord Saurfang now has 10 Armor, and 7 Armor in Duos.
• Maiev Shadowsong now has 10 Armor at higher ranks, 15 Armor at lower ranks, and 7 Armor in Duos.
• Lich Baz’hial now has 12 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Elise Starseeker now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Reno Jackson now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Rakanishu now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Death Speaker Blackthorn now has 13 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Ini Stormcoil now has 13 Armor at higher ranks, 7 Armor at lower ranks, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Chenvaala now has 13 Armor at higher ranks, 7 Armor at lower ranks, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Vol’jin now has 14 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• Greybough now has 14 Armor, and 10 Armor in Duos.
• The Great Akazamzarak now has 15 Armor, and 12 in Duos.
• The Curator now has 15 Armor, and 12 in Duos.
• Sneed now has 16 Armor, and 13 in Duos.
• Professor Putricide now has 18 Armor, and 13 Armor in Duos.
• Jandice Barov now has 19 Armor, and 16 Armor in Duos.
• Queen Wagtoggle now has 19 Armor, and 16 Armor in Duos.
• Tavish Stormpike now has 19 Armor, and 17 Armor in Duos.
• Pyramad now has 20 Armor, and 17 Armor in Duos.
• Ozumat now has 20 Armor, and 17 Armor in Duos.
• Y’Shaarj now has 20 Armor, and 17 Armor in Duos.
• Kael’thas Sunstrider now has 20 Armor, still has 17 Armor in Duos.
• Cariel Roame now has 20 Armor at higher ranks and 16 Armor in Duos, still has 10 Armor at lower ranks.

Buddy Changes

Vaelstrasz (Alexstrasza)

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/4. Battlecry and Start of Combat: Give your other minions +2/+2.
• New: [Tier 5] 6/6. Battlecry and Start of Combat: Give your other minions +3/+3.

Imperial Defender (Queen Azshara)

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/4
• New: [Tier 6] 4/8

Shining Sailor (Cap’n Hoggarr)

• Old: 3/6. After you buy a Pirate, gain +1/+1 and add a Pirate to the Tavern.
• New: 4/7. After you buy 2 Pirates, gain +1/+1 and add a Pirate to the Tavern.

Acolyte of Yogg-Saron (Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End)

• Old: [Tier 4] 5/4
• New: [Tier 5] 6/4
• Curse of Flesh also now only gives one friendly minion the stats of another friendly minion, instead of two minions gaining stats of two friendly minions.

Dranosh Saurfang (Overlord Saurfang)

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/2
• New: [Tier 5] 6/6

Unearthed Underling (Lich Baz’hial)

• Old: [Tier 3] 3/3
• New: [Tier 4] 5/5

Shadow Warden (Maiev Shadowsong)

• Old: [Tier 2] 4/4
• New: [Tier 3] 6/6

The Nine Frogs (Doctor Holli’dae)

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 6]

Death’s Head Sage (Death Speaker Blackthorn)

• Old: [Tier 5] 3/6
• New: [Tier 6] 3/7

Box Cars (Snake Eyes)

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 6]

Snow Elemental (Chenvaala)

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/3
• New: [Tier 4] 5/4

Lantern Tender (Rakanishu)

• Old: [Tier 4] 5/3
• New: [Tier 5] 6/4

Wandering Treant (Greybough)

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/5
• New: [Tier 5] 2/7

Jr. Navigator (Elise Starseeker)

• Old: [Tier 2] 3/3
• New: [Tier 3] 4/4

Master Gadrin (Vol’jin)

• Old: [Tier 5] 6/5
• New: [Tier 6] 7/6

Sr. Tomb Diver (Reno Jackson)

• Old: [Tier 1] 4/1
• New: [Tier 2] 5/1

Piloted Whirl-O-Tron (Sneed)

• Old: [Tier 5] 5/4
• New: [Tier 6] 6/4

Festergut (Professor Putricide)

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/2
• New: [Tier 4] 6/2

Sub Scrubber (Ini Stormcoil)

• Old: [Tier 4] 4/4
• New: [Tier 5] 6/6

Snack Vendor (A.F. Kay)

• Old: 5/4
• New: 3/2

Mishmash (The Curator)

• Old: [Tier 3] 2/2
• New: [Tier 4] 4/4

Karl the Lost (George the Fallen)

• Old: [Tier 4] 3/4
• New: [Tier 3] 3/4

Watfin (Murloc Holmes)

• Old: [Tier 3] 2/6
• New: [Tier 2] 2/5

SI:7 Scout (Edwin VanCleef)

• Old: [Tier 2] 3/3
• New: [Tier 1] 2/2

Warden Thelwater (Scabbs Cutterbutter)

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/6
• New: [Tier 3] 2/4

Varden’s Aquarrior (Varden Dawngrasp)

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 3]

Icesnarl the Mighty (Rokara)

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 3]

Flight Trainer (Galewing)

• Old: [Tier 2] 2/3
• New: [Tier 1] 2/2

Waxadred, the Drippy (Heistbaron Togwaggle)

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Nightmare Ectoplasm (Mutanus the Devourer)

• Old: [Tier 3] 5/4
• New: [Tier 2] 4/3

Baby Elekk (Xyrella)

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 2]

Bilgewater Mogul (Trade Prince Gallywix)

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 3]

Akali, Rock Rhino (Rock Master Voone)

• Old: [Tier 4] 5/5
• New: [Tier 3] 3/3

Sparkfin Soothsayer (Fungalmancer Flurgl)

• Old: [Tier 5] 5/4
• New: [Tier 3] 4/3

Veranus, Stormlord’s Mount (Thorim, Stormlord)

• Old: [Tier 3] 6/3
• New: [Tier 2] 5/2

Asher the Haberdasher (Dancin’ Deryl)

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 2]

Mister Chu (Madam Goya)

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 5]

Minion Pool Changes

• Removed from the Minion Pool: Draconic Deathscale.
• Added to the Minion Pool: Gem Smuggler, Hunter of Gatherers.

Other Minion/Spell Changes

Iridescent Skyblazer

• Old: 3/7. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+2 permanently.
• New: 4/8. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+1 permanently.

Trigore the Lasher

• Old: 5/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1/+1 permanently.
• New: 9/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +2 Health permanently.

Electric Synthesizer

• Old: 3/3. Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3/+1.
• New: 3/2. Battlecry: Give your other Dragons +3/+2.

Tarecgosa

• Old: 4/4
• New: 5/5

Whelp Smuggler

• Old: 2/3
• New: 2/5

Roaring Rallier

• Old: 3/5. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+1.
• New: 2/6. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +3/+1.

Ghoul-acabra

• Old: 2/11. Whenever you trigger a Deathrattle, give your minions +2/+2 permanently.
• New: 3/12. After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give your minions +2/+2 permanently.

Moon-Bacon Jazzer

• Old: [Tier 3] 2/5
• New: [Tier 2] 2/3

Boon of Beetles

• Old: [2 Gold] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle with Taunt. (4 left!)
• New: [1 Gold] When you have space in combat, summon a 10/10 Beetle with Taunt.
• Dev Comment: It now only summons one large Beetle, instead of four small ones.

Misc. Other Changes

• Mawsworn Soulkeeper (The Jailer’s Buddy) has been removed from E.T.C., Band Manager’s Hero Power pool.
• Lightning Invocation on Spirit Raptor (Brukan’s Buddy) can no longer be triggered in the Recruit phase.
• Several additional Heroes will no longer be able to be paired together in Duos (Shudderwock and Zephrys, the Great were the biggest offenders with the most new banned pairings).

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Metamorphosis Illidan portrait had issues if you transformed after getting certain Health modifiers (like Prince Renathal).
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the Just Keep Swimming Spellcraft spell removed Stealth from Stealth minions.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Ghoul-acabra's effect couldn’t trigger during the Recruit phase.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Halfu’s the Mighty (Cho’s Buddy) could cause a triple for Cho before passing the generated minion to Gall.

Patch 29.6, launching today, starts planning for Hearthstone’s next expansion, Perils in Paradise, returns Baku and Genn to the free Core Set for a limited time, brings Buddies back to Battlegrounds (including Battlegrounds Duos), sets the stage for the next Twist season, and more!

Pre-Purchase Perils in Paradise

Prepare for an island vacation to Hearthstone’s next expansion, Perils in Paradise, arriving on July 23! The old fox Marin has put his questing days behind him and is taking on a new adventure: resort management. Tucked away in the Spiral Isles, his new resort has everything you need for an unforgettable adventure—class-hopping Tourists, tasty Drinks, Locations you’ll want to visit over and over again, and a dash of danger. Book your tickets now, it’s almost time for Perils in Paradise!

Perils in Paradise has 145 all-new collectible cards. You can learn more about what’s on the trip itinerary in the Perils in Paradise Announce Blog. Two pre-purchase options are available now, so pack your bags!

Pre-purchase

Log in and Get Marin the Manager for Free!

What better way to prepare for your trip than a chat with the resort manager? Log in to Hearthstone now to start planning with the free Marin the Manager Legendary card!* Play him and he promises you’ll Treasure your trip.

* Limited one per account. After Patch 30.6, Marin the Manager will be granted upon opening your first Perils in Paradise pack, instead of upon logging in.

Genn and Baku Return to Core

With Patch 29.6, until the launch of Perils in Paradise on July 23, Genn and Baku will be added to the free Core Set! That means they will be playable in Standard and Wild for everyone during that time. Years ago, these two iconic cards were so powerful they were sent to Wild early! Now they’re back to celebrate Hearthstone’s history—and for a bit of revenge. What Odd creations will you Even come up with?

Buddies are Back in Battlegrounds!

Buddies return for the Battlegrounds, and come to Duos for the first time, in the 29.6 mid-season update! Each Hero has a special Buddy that is unique to them and synergizes with their Hero Power. Press your Buddy Button during the shop phase to get yours! The cost to press the Buddy Button reduces throughout the game and resets when pressed—press it again for three total copies of your Buddy.

There are 12 all-new Buddies, 23 updated Buddies, new and returning minions, minion pool changes, and more this patch! Check out our dedicated Battlegrounds preview blog for all the details.

In-Game Event: Midsummer Fire Festival

The summer season is underway, with a new Fire Festival in-game event before we set sail for Perils in Paradise! From June 25 to July 16, complete Event Quests to earn Event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 6 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs and the Reaver V-07-TR-0N Rogue Hero Skin.

July Twist Season: Even More Heroes

Whizbang’s Heroes is returning in July with 9 additional new Heroes to try! Each Hero is unlocked when you have the card with the same name as the Hero in your Collection. You can see all Hero details—including their decklists and a direct link to their unlock card—from the Twist Hero selection screen once the July season begins.

Marin the Manager

• Passive: Seize the Opportunity! - When you play your right-most card, draw a card.
• Hero Power: Investment - [1 Mana] Shuffle 3 Coins into your deck.

Lady Liadrin

• Passive: Liadrin’s Champion – After you cast a spell on a friendly minion, draw a card. It costs (2) less. Once per turn.
• Hero Power: Patience - [0 Mana] Refresh your Mana Crystals. Lock this Hero Power for that many turns.

Sargeras, the Destroyer

• Passive: The End is Nigh! - At the start of your turn, shuffle a 10-Cost spell that deals 30 damage into your deck.
• Hero Power: Twisting Nether - [3 Mana] Destroy all minions. Only usable once.

Elite Tauren Champion

• Passive: KEEP ON ROCKING! - At the end of your turn, give a random Taunt minion in your hand +2/+2.
• Hero Power: Riffraff - [1 Mana] Get a 2/1 Rocker with Taunt. Finale: Summon it.

Halveria Darkraven

• Passive: Outcast Anthem – The left and right-most cards in your hand cost (1) less.
• Hero Power: Song of Angst - [1 Mana] Choose a minion, it takes one extra damage from all sources this turn.

Heartbreaker Hedanis

• Passive: Starstruck – When a minion enters your hand, give it -2 Attack and reduce its cost by (1).
• Hero Power: Captive Audience - [2 Mana] Give a minion +2/+2. If it is Silenced, draw a card.

Thorim Stormlord

• Passive: Titanic Surge – Your Totems have +2 Attack (wherever they are).
• Hero Power: Harness the Storm - [1 Mana] Summon a basic Totem. Summon two if you’re Overloaded.

Queen Azshara

• Passive: Shifting Tides – After you play a spell, refresh a Mana Crystal and switch to Naga. Also swaps your Hero Power.
• Hero Power: Command Naga - [1 Mana] Get a Naga that costs (3) or less. Shifting Tides swaps this.
  • Command Magic - [1 Mana] Get a spell that costs (3) or less. Shifting Tides swaps this.

Tamsin Roame

• Passive: Perfume Phylactery – You have two lives. After you die, your Hero Power deals damage instead of summoning a Demon.
• Hero Power: Blood Pact - [2 Mana] Take 1 damage. Summon a 1/1 Demon. Increases each turn.
  • Soulbound - [2 Mana] Take 1 damage. Deal 1 damage. Increases each turn.

Diamond Disenchanting Update

Starting with Patch 29.6, most Diamond cards will be able to be disenchanted for the same value as if they were Golden cards. As with other card qualities, the Diamond cards that won’t be able to be disenchanted are the ones that are specially granted, like those on the Rewards Track or included in the Golden Mini-Set. As with Signature cards, Diamond cards still won’t be able to be crafted, to keep them exciting and special.

Matchmaking Update

Previously, matchmaking on the ranked ladder was based on your internal rating (commonly called “MMR”) while you had bonus stars and based on ladder rank after you ran out of bonus stars. Now, matchmaking will continue to be based on your internal rating even after you run out of bonus stars. This change should reduce matchmaking complexity and result in more consistent and fairer matches throughout the ladder.

Passive XP Grant Adjustment

In our continued efforts to combat bots and exploitive play patterns, extended periods of inactivity will now reward less XP. This change will not impact players taking normal game actions on their turns, such as playing cards, making attacks, or even just hitting the end turn button, so most players won’t see change in their XP earned—just fewer bots wasting their time.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [General] Updated minimum specifications to require 64-bit support.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the “Complete Your Deck” button went missing.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where persistent effects like Sigils and Auras didn’t stack if replayed by cards like Tess Greymane or Jotun, the Eternal.
• [Hearthstone] Made Khadgar’s Magic Wisdomball more helpful in cases where all enemy characters are unable to be targeted.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where playing Boom Wrench caused a momentary client freeze up.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Return Policy could Discover cards that were granted Deathrattles—that's outside of policy. Also fixed a visual bug where Golden Return Policy’s main character was missing—it has now been returned.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where T.N.T.s copied by Jotun the Eternal’s effect would hit the enemy side, instead of Jotun’s side.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Treants and Piranha Swarmers with different art pieces were treated as different minions.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Cast When Drawn cards shuffled into the deck with Runic Adornment could target functionally dead minions.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Proving Grounds could cause illegal attacks if one of the minions was transformed or changed zones during the attack.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Arcanite Ripper’s effect would only trigger once when dealt damage and healed at the same time.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a Banana couldn’t have a funny mustache; and a related bug where Remornia, Living Blade’s weapon form couldn’t have a funny mustache.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Poisoned Blade didn’t work with Sing-Along Buddy.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where cards like Spirit of the Dragonhawk and Wickerclaw didn’t work with Sing-Along Buddy.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed various minor visual bugs with the Whizbang’s Heroes Twist user interface.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug where a card turned into Malygos with Wave of Nostalgia cosplayed as random other minions.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed bugs with Aranna Starseeker and Queen Azshara's transform, and returned them to the Hero Pool.
• [Battlegrounds] Minions that had Venomous and/or Stealth, but lost them in combat before dying, will have them again when resummoned by Cultist S’Thara.
• [Battlegrounds] Reno’s “We’re Gonna be Rich!” can no longer target Putricide’s Creations.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Polarizing Beatboxer wouldn’t gain taunt if you Fortified a Magnetic minion and then Magnetized it.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the turn timer and the rope were out of sync during the Tavern Phase.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a visual bug where Greybough’s Hero Power caused Undead summoned in combat to not show their Undead buffs.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Putricide’s Creations looked different from your teammate’s perspective.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug causing desyncs.
• [Solo Content] Fixed various Boomsday Puzzles that were unable to be solved due to card updates.
• [Localization] Fixed various localization issues across languages.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

In Patch 29.6, Buddies are returning to Battlegrounds including their debut in Battlegrounds Duos!

What’s a Buddy?

Buddies are powerful minions assigned to each Hero. Every Buddy is unique to a particular Hero Power and doesn’t appear in the general minion pool. Throughout the match, you can get copies of your Buddy to add to your Warband and help you win the fight.

Making Friends is Easy

Just like last time Buddies were around, each hero will have a Buddy Button that you can press to get their Buddy. The Buddy Button has an initial cost based on the Tavern Tier of your Buddy, which then goes down by 3 Gold each time you win or tie a combat, or 2 Gold each time you lose a combat.

Your Buddy Button can be pressed twice per game. Pressing the button resets the Cost (and slightly increases it). The first time you press the button, you get one copy of your Buddy; the second time, you get two. Finally, since this is the first time we’ve had Buddies in Duos, we’re temporarily adding 10 seconds to all turn-timers in Duos while you get acquainted.

New Buddies

It’s been a while since we last saw our Buddies. Now there are 12 all-new Buddies to meet!

Cap’n Hoggarr – Shining Sailor [Tier 5, Pirate]

• 3/6. After you buy a Pirate, gain +1/+1 and add a Pirate to the Tavern.

Inge, the Iron Hymn – Solem Serenader [Tier 3, Undead]

• 4/3. After you use your Hero Power on a minion, it gains half this minion’s Attack. (Swaps to Health next turn!)

Rock Master Voone – Akali, Rock Rhino [Tier 4, Beast]

• 5/5. At the end of every 2 turns, get a plain copy of the left-most card in your hand.

Thorim, Stormlord – Veranus, Stormlord’s Mount [Tier 3, Dragon]

• 6/3. At the end of your turn, transform the minion to the left of this into one from a tier higher (up to Tier 7!)

Snake Eyes – Box Cars [Tier 4, Mech]

• 6/6. At the start of your turn, roll a 6-sided die. Discover a Tavern spell of that Tier.

Doctor Holli’dae - The Nine Frogs [Tier 5, Beast]

• 9/9. After you buy a minion, get a random Tavern spell of the same Tier. (9 left!)

Tae’thelan Bloodwatcher – Reliquary Attendant [Tier 4, Elemental]

• 7/4. Once per turn, after you cast a Tavern spell, get a new copy of it.

Nameless One – Faceless One [Tier 4]

• 1/1. Battlecry: Get the Buddy of your teammate’s Hero Power.

Cho – Halfus the Mighty [Tier 4]

• 5/5. At the start of your turn, Discover a minion of your Tier. (50% chance to Pass it!)

Gall – Halfus the Wise [Tier 4]

• 5/5. At the start of your turn, Discover a Tavern spell of your Tier. (50% chance to Pass it!)

Madam Goya – Mister Chu [Tier 4]

• 5/6. Once per turn, after you Pass a minion, get a plain copy of it.

Flobbidinous Floop – Glorious Gloopling [Tier 5]

• 5/1. At the start of your turn, get a plain copy of your teammate’s highest-Tier minion (except Buddies).

Updated Buddies

In addition to new Buddies, we’ve also made updates to several of our old friends.

Overlord Saurfang – Dranosh Saurfang [Tier 4]

• 2/2. After you buy a minion, gain its stats.

Ragnaros the Firelord – Lucifron [Tier 5]

• 6/5. Your end of turn effects trigger an extra time.

Aranna Starseeker – Sklibb, Demon Hunter [Tier 3]

• 4/4. After you buy a card, your next Refresh costs (0).

Alexstrasza – Vaelastrasz [Tier 3, Dragon]

• 4/4. Battlecry and Start of Combat: Give your other minions +2/+2.

Zephrys – Phyresz [Tier 4, Elemental]

• 3/3. Battlecry: Discover a plain copy of a different minion that you have exactly one of.
• Dev Comment: This is primarily a text update for clarity, but there have also been some small functional updates. Phyresz does not count itself or Zilliax modules, but it does now count Golden minions.

A.F. Kay – Snack Vendor [Tier 3]

• 5/4. At the end of your turn, give your Tier 3 minions +1/+2.

Death Speaker Blackthorn – Death's Head Sage [Tier 5, Undead/Quilboar]

• 3/6. After you get a Blood Gem, get an extra one.

Queen Azshara – Imperial Defender [Tier 4, Naga]

• 2/4. Whenever you cast a Spellcraft spell on a different friendly minion, you also cast it on this.

Sire Denathrius – Shady Aristocrat [Tier 3]

• 3/3. When you sell this, Discover a Quest. Complete it to get an 8-Gold Coin Pouch.

Teron Gorefiend – Shadowy Construct [Tier 5, Undead]

• 5/5. Deathrattle: Give this minion’s maximum stats stats to another friendly minion.

Queen Wagtoggle – Elder Taggawag [Tier 4]

• 4/4. Start of Combat: If you control 4 minions with different types, gain your minions’ highest Attack and Health.

Shudderwock – Muckslinger [Tier 5]

• 5/5. Battlecry: Get a random Battlecry minion.

Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End – Acolyte of Yogg-Saron [Tier 4, Murloc]

• 5/4. At the start of every turn, spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron.
• Some of the Wheel of Yogg-Saron results were also updated:
  • Mindflayer Goggles: Cast 4 random Tavern spells.
  • Rod of Roasting: Cast ‘Pyrobuff’ randomly to give minions +10/+10 until one hits your bartender or hero.
  • Curse of Flesh: Two friendly minions gain the stats of two other random friendly minions.

Dancin’ Deryl – Asher the Haberdasher [Tier 4]

• 2/2. After you sell a minion, gain a +1/+1 hat that passes to a friendly minion when sold.

Ysera – Valithria Dreamwalker [Tier 4, Dragon]

• 6/4. Whenever a Dragon enters your warband or the Tavern, gain +1/+1.

Malygos – Nexus Lord [Tier 4]

• 6/6. ‘Arcane Alteration’ replaces with a card from one Tier higher.

Lord Barov – Barov's Apprentice [Tier 4]

• 5/4. After you play a Coin, gain 1 Gold.
• Dev Comment: This has been updated to include Tavern Coins.

Rakanishu – Lantern Tender [Tier 4]

• 5/3. At the end of your turn, get 2 ‘Lantern Lights’ that give a minion stats equal to your Tier.

Tickatus – Ticket Collector [Tier 5]

• 6/6. When you sell this, Discover a Darkmoon Prize from the next Tier.
• Dev Comment: This is just a wording update for clarity, no functionality change.

Vol’jin - Master Gadrin [Tier 5]

• 6/5. Minions targeted by “Spirit Swap” also gain each other’s Health.

Lich Baz’hial - Unearthed Underling [Tier 3, Undead]

• 3/3. Whenever your hero takes damage, rewind it and gain stats equal to that amount.

Deathwing – Sinestra [Tier 4, Dragon]

• 2/6. Whenever a friendly minion gains Attack during combat, give it +1 Health permanently.

Greybough – Wandering Treant [Tier 4]

• 2/5. Whenever a friendly Taunt minion is attacked, give your minions +1 Attack permanently.

Bud wait, there’s more! In addition to all the Buddy updates, we’re also making updates to existing heroes and minions across both game modes.

Hero Pool Updates

• E.T.C. Band Manager has been returned to the Hero Pool.
• The Curator is banned in Demon lobbies.
  • Dev Comment: This change is because minions summoned by Cultist S’Thara will now resummon with Venomous if they had it before they died, making it easily abuseable with The Curator.

Hero Updates

Alexstrasza – Queen of Dragons

• [Passive] At the start of your turn, Discover a Dragon. (Unlocks at Tier 4).

Tae’thelan Bloodwatcher – Reliquary Research

• [Passive] Every fourth Tavern Spell you buy costs (0).

Rakanishu – Tavern Lighting

• [1 Gold] Get a ‘Lantern Light’ that gives a minion stats equal to your Tier.

Minion Pool Updates

• The following minions will be removed from the minion pool: Augmented Laborer, Bazaar Dealer, Deadstomper, Faceless Disciple, Gem Smuggler, Goldshell Warden, Heedless Hoarder, Long John Copper, Reef Explorer, Timecap’n Hooktail, Vengeful Slitherer, and Winged Chimera.
• The following minions will be returning to the minion pool: Poetic Pen Pal, Imposing Percussionist, and Silent Swimmer.

New Minions

Barrens Brawler [Tier 3]

• 2/6. Battlecry: Get a random Deathrattle minion.

Barrens Conjurer [Tier 5]

• 6/2. Deathrattle: Get a random Battlecry minion.

Arid Atrocity [Tier 6, All]

• 7/7. Deathrattle: Summon a 7/7 Golem. Give it +7/+7 for each friendly minion type that died this combat.

Prime Mate [Tier 4, Beast/Pirate]

• 2/8. After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, gain 1 Gold next turn.

Ghoul-acabra [Tier 6, Undead/Beast]

• 2/11. Whenever you trigger a Deathrattle, give your minions +2/+2 permanently.

‘Loc Prince [Tier 4, Murloc]

• 2/2. Whenever this gains stats, add +2/+2 to that amount (wherever this is).

Fairy Gillmother [Tier 4, Murloc]

• 1/5. At the end of your turn, get a random Murloc.

Crow’s Nest Sentry [Tier 3, Pirate]

• 5/2. Battlecry: Give your other Pirates +3 Health.

Clunker Junker [Tier 4, Mech]

• 3/4. Battlecry: Choose a friendly Mech. Discover a Mech to Magnetize to it.

Three Lil’ Quilboar [Tier 5, Quilboar]

• 3/3. Deathrattle: Play three Blood Gems on your Quilboar.

Jumping Jack (Duos Only) [Tier 3, All]

• 3/4. The first time this is sold, Pass it instead.

Minion Updates

King Bagurgle [Tier 5, Murloc]

• 6/3. Battlecry: Give your other Murlocs +3/+3.

Imposing Percussionist [Tier 4, Demon]

• 4/4. Battlecry: Discover a Demon. Deal damage to your hero equal to its Tier.

All these updates are coming to Battlegrounds in Patch 29.6. Look out for date announcements and more, soon. Your Buddies have been waiting for you—we'll see you in the Tavern!

Patch 29.4.2, launching today, brings the following balance changes, Weekly Quest updates, and more!

Weekly Quest Updates

Before the Weekly Quests changed in Patch 29.2, we didn’t adequately communicate the changes that were coming, or our reasoning for them. That’s something we’ll keep improving on.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been listening to your experiences and looking at our data, and it’s clear that the new Weekly Quests didn’t do their job of rewarding you for your time playing the game. Going forward, we want to strike a much better balance between your time spent in Hearthstone and the rewards given by Weekly Quests.

So we’re making some more updates in this patch, reducing the requirements on the Weekly Quests that seem to be blocking player progression for many of you, while leaving the increased XP where it is. We hope these new changes will still reward you more while keeping Weekly Quests an attainable and fun goal for all players. We look forward to seeing how this iteration works out. Please keep the feedback coming! Thanks for playing, and we’ll see you in the Tavern.

- Tyler Bielman, Game Director

Win Games of Ranked

• Old: Win 10 games of Ranked Hearthstone.
• New: Play 10 games of Ranked Hearthstone.

Win Games of Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Battlegrounds

• Old: Win 10 games of Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Battlegrounds.
• New: Play 5 games of Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Battlegrounds.

Play Miniaturize or Mini cards

• Old: Play 32 Miniaturize or Mini cards.
• New: Play 10 Miniaturize or Mini cards.

Spend Mana

• Old: Spend 750 Mana.
• New: Spend 650 Mana.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: It’s early after the launch of the Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions Mini-Set and the metagame is still developing, so we’re making just a few balance adjustments in this patch, aimed at addressing early outlier decks. All three of the target decks are a little too good at flooding the board too early and too efficiently. The Molten Giant change slows Warlock down slightly and also makes the play pattern a bit more dangerous, allowing more room for a counterswing. Showdown is an enabler for Zilliax, Sea Giant, and Prismatic Beam in Paladin, so we think it could be less efficient for that deck. Finally, Thirsty Drifter is another strong swarming card, particularly at higher levels of play, and our data indicates that deck would likely trend upwards if we didn’t adjust it here, too.

Showdown

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [3 Mana]

Thirsty Drifter

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Molten Giant

• Old: [20 Mana]
• New: [22 Mana]

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 29.4.2. (Core Set versions of cards can’t be crafted or disenchanted; access the craftable version of Molten Giant by selecting the “Legacy” filter in the Collection).

Battlegrounds Updates

Minion Pool Changes

The following minions have been removed from the minion pool:

• Kindly Grandmother
• Sly Raptor
• Gentle Djinni

The following minions have been added to the minion pool:

• Manasaber
• Rat Pack
• Lil’ Rag (with updates, see below)

Battlegrounds Card Changes

Rylak Metalhead

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecry of the minion to the left of this.
• New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecry of an adjacent minion.
• Dev Comment: If there are Battlecry minions on both sides of Rylak, it will randomly trigger one. This is primarily a quality-of-life change after lots of reports from players frustrated that they or their Duos partner accidentally put Rylak in the wrong position and got no effect.

Pokey Thornmantle

• Old: 4/5. At the end of your turn, your Blood Gems give an extra +1/+1 this game.
• New: 6/7. At the start of your turn, your Blood Gems give an extra +1/+1 this game.

Party Elemental

• Old: 4/2. After you play an Elemental, give a friendly Elemental other than it +1/+1.
• New: 3/2. After you play an Elemental, give a friendly Elemental other than it +2/+1.

Deadstomper

• Old: 2/6
• New: 4/11

Whirling Lass-o-Matic

• Old: 9/5
• New: 7/4

Scrap Scraper

• Old: 5/5. Battlecry and Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.
• New: 6/5. Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.

Winged Chimera

• Old: 1/5. When this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1. (3 times per combat).
• New: 1/6. When this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1. (Twice per combat).

Deep Blue Crooner

• Old: 4/4
• New: 2/2

Spellbound Seafarer

• Old: 4/6. After you buy 4 cards, get a random Tavern spell.
• New: 3/5. After you buy 3 cards, get a random Tavern spell.

Gunpowder Courier

• Old: 2/6. After you spend 5 Gold, give your Pirates +1 Attack.
• New: 1/6. After you spend 4 Gold, give your Pirates +1 Attack.

Sister Deathwhisper

• Old: 4/10. After a friendly minion is Reborn, give your Undead +1/+3 permanently.
• New: 5/9. After a friendly minion is Reborn, give your minions +1/+3 permanently.

Trigore the Lasher

• Old: 8/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1 Health permanently.
• New: 5/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1/+1 permanently.

Iridescent Skyblazer

• Old: 3/8. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+1 permanently.
• New: 3/7. Whenever a friendly Beast takes damage, give a friendly Beast other than it +1/+2 permanently.

Murky

• Old: 6/4. Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +10/+10.
• New: 4/4. Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +4/+4 for each one you control.

Hungering Abomination

• Old: 6/7. Avenge (1): Gain +1/+1 permanently.
• New: 4/5. Avenge (1): Gain +1/+2 permanently.

Molten Rock

• Old: 3/2
• New: 3/3

Flourishing Frostling

• Old: [Tier 4] 1/1. Has +1/+1 for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).
• New: [Tier 5] 2/1. Has +2/+1 for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).

Lil’ Rag

• Old: [Tier 5] 6/6
• New: [Tier 4] 4/4

Roaring Rallier

• Old: 3/4. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+2.
• New: 3/5. Whenever a friendly Dragon attacks, give it +2/+1.

Amber Guardian

• Old: [Tier 3] 3/2. Start of Combat: Give another friendly Dragon +2/+2 and Divine Shield.
• New: [Tier 5] 7/7. Start of Combat: Give another friendly Dragon +7/+7 and Divine Shield.

Timecap’n Hooktail

• Old: 2/5
• New: 1/4

Impulsive Trickster

• Old: 2/3
• New: 3/3

Oozeling Gladiator

• Old: 1/2
• New: 2/2

Wrath Weaver

• Old: 1/3
• New: 1/4

Backstage Security

• Old: At the start of your turn, deal 1 damage to your hero.
• New: Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to your hero.

Fire Dancer

• Old: 5/2
• New: 6/3

Defiant Shipwright

• Old: Whenever this gains Attack, gain +1 Health.
• New: Whenever this gains Attack, gain +1 Health permanently.
• Dev Comment: This means it will now keep Health gained with this effect during combat.

Fiery Felblood

• Old: 3/2
• New: 2/1

Underhanded Dealer

• Old: 4/4
• New: 6/6

Bream Counter

• Old: 5/5. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+2.
• New: 4/4. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+3.

King Bagurgle

• Old: [Tier 5] 6/3. Battlecry: Give your other Murlocs +3/+3.
• New: [Tier 4] 5/3. Battlecry: Give your other Murlocs +2/+2.

Cloning Conch

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Dreamer’s Embrace

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 5]

Scavenge for Parts

• Old: [2 Gold]
• New: [3 Gold]

Plunder Seeker

• Old: Steal a random card from the Tavern. Repeat for each friendly Pirate.
• New: Steal a random card from the Tavern for each Pirate you control.

Duos-Only Card Changes

Orc-estra Conductor

• Old: 4/2. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+1. (Upgraded for each Orc-estra your team has played this game).
• New: 4/4. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+2. (Upgraded for each Orc-estra your team has played this game).

Man’ari Messenger

• Old: [Tier 4] 8/5
• New: [Tier 5] 9/6

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Battlegrounds] Removed Drakkari Embalmer from the Professor Putricide Hero Power pool due to an undesired interaction.
• [Collection] Fixed a bug where Standardized Pack wasn’t showing under the “NEW” tab in the Collection.

Patch 29.4, launching tomorrow, brings an explosive new mini-set, Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions, and more!

Incredible New Inventions!

Dr. Boom’s tired of everyone calling Whizbang the world’s greatest inventor. So he kept tinkering away in the basement until he came up with something bombastic, something Gigantic, something... INCREDIBLE!

The Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions Mini-Set has 38 all-new cards. Get them in Whizbang’s Workshop packs or as a complete 72-card* Mini-Set. Get the normal version for $14.99 or 2000 Gold, or get the all-Golden version for $69.99 or 10,000 Gold. The all-Golden version comes with a bonus Diamond copy of the Puppetmaster Dorian Legendary minion! You can see all the cards from Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions Mini-Set in the official Card Library.

* 4 Legendary cards, 1 Epic card (x2), 17 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2).

Gigantify Your Fun!

Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions include a new keyword: Gigantify! Gigantify is like Miniaturize, but bigger: whenever you play a card with Gigantify, you get an 8-mana, 8/8 Gigantic version added to your hand. That’s huge!

Hearthstone Balance Changes

Dev Comment: Our last balance update was a massive shakeup with over 35 changes, based on our general design philosophy and overall health of Standard. With so many changes at once, we built this extra balance window into this content patch to catch a couple power and playrate outliers that have cropped up since those changes. We still have our regular hotfix balance window planned for a little after this patch, once players have had a chance to play with the new mini-set cards and explore the new meta.

Deepminer Brann

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [8 Mana]

Saddle Up!

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Upcoming Twist Season: Whizbang’s Heroes

Twist is back with a huge, all-new season in June: Whizbang’s Heroes! In Whizbang’s Heroes, choose from exciting new Heroes, each with their own pre-constructed deck, Hero Power, and unique passive effect.

Each Hero is unlocked if you have their corresponding Legendary card (the first-appearance card with the same name as the Hero—except Illidan, who is unlocked by Metamorphosis in Core).

Whizbang’s Heroes will launch with 19 Hero options:

• Illidan Stormrage*
• Al’Akir the Windlord*
• Arch-Villain Rafaam*
• Leeroy Jenkins*
• Kael’Thas Sunstrider**
• C’Thun**
• Nozdormu
• The Lich King
• Xyrella
• Patches the Pirate
• Sir Finley Mrrgglton
• King Krush
• Forest Warden Omu
• Dr. Boom
• Zul’jin
• N’Zoth, the Corruptor
• Brann Bronzebeard
• Guff Runetotem
• Arfus

Keep an eye out for more details closer to the start of the June Twist season!

*These heroes are unlocked by cards in Core, so they will be automatically unlocked for all players at the start of the season.

**These two cards were free login rewards for older expansions. If not already unlocked, C’Thun is automatically unlocked by having a Whispers of the Old Gods pack and going to the pack opening screen and Kael’thas is automatically unlocked by having an Ashes of Outland pack and going to the pack opening screen.

Arena Updates

On May 14, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. The Arena rules and draft pools will remain the same, except that cards from Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions will be added to the pool. However, the random generation and Discover pools will be updated to only include cards from Ashes of Outland onward.

In-Game Event: Dr. Boom’s Aisle of Mischievous Toys

Dr. Boom’s inventions are, of course, incredible, but one or two of them have been known to... have a little extra boom. From May 21 to June 11, complete Event Quests to earn Event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 6 Whizbang’s Workshop packs and the Thunder Ape Shaman Hero Skin.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• Dev Comment: As we continue iterating on our progression system, and our communications around it, we’re working on some updates that didn’t quite make it into this patch. Our next Weekly Quest update is planned for the next scheduled client patch, Patch 29.4.2.
• [Hearthstone] Updated Photographer Fizzle to now load his Snapshot in existing hand order instead of timestamp order (meaning, for example, Mini cards will appear where they are in your hand when the Snapshot is taken, even though they were added to your hand later than other cards).
• [Hearthstone] Updated the order of Discover options in Illidan’s Gift to match the order on the card’s text.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where The Headless Horseman unfroze upon drawing Horseman’s Head (finding your head is nice, but your body’s still on ice).
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Open the Cages would not trigger off Observer of Mysteries before disappearing.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug on some mobile devices where the enemy Secret zone overlapped and was difficult to see with hover. Fixed another visual bug on some mobile devices where the friendly Secret Zone couldn’t be hovered to see at all.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Dr. Stitchensew could cause disconnects in rare circumstances.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a Spell Damage Chia Drake wouldn’t have the Spell Damage effect when control was swapped or a copy was summoned.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a Cosplay Contestant cosplaying as Magtheridon, Unreleased would trigger its Dormant effect twice each turn. That’s not canon!
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Fairy Tale Slime didn’t update its text from the opponent’s perspective.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Spirit of the Badlands’s Mirage can create an extra, fake Mirage in hand—that was a bit too immersive.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Crimson Expanse wouldn’t create an exact copy under certain circumstances.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Felscale Evoker’s effect sometimes wasn’t tracking properly.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Battlegrounds Ratings were showing as stuck on 0 on tablet devices.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where tripling Marine Matriarch with Elemental of Surprise would turn off Marine Matriarch’s effect.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Slimy Felblood’s effect also applied to your Partner’s Tavern when activated in combat.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where passing a minion to your partner while they were in the Choose One interface soft locked the client.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where passing a minion to your partner while they are holding another copy of that minion, and the passed card forms a triple, blocks all functionality until the newly tripled card is played.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where minions affected by Suspicious Stimulant couldn’t be passed from hand.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where the Tick, Tick, Boom! Achievement didn’t track properly after Boomboss Tho’grun’s effect was updated.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where Favorited Coins weren’t showing for Coins generated in-game.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug with Halveria Darkraven’s Hero Power animation.
• [Cosmetics] Corrected a few Battlegrounds Hero skins that had the wrong rarity listed in the Collection.
• [Shop] Fixed a bug where Mac desktop clients couldn’t access the Shop.
• [???] Updated a secret puzzle to account for the new Core Set update.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Patch 29.2.2, launching later today, contains big updates to Hearthstone and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: This patch is a little different than our usual balance patches—it’s more about the general design direction of the game than it is about particular power outliers (though we hit a few of those, too). Right now, there are a lot of cards that can remove player agency and raise the power level of the game beyond where we want for a 4-set meta. We’re looking at a variety of these meta-defining cards in this patch, from OTK-style cards to powerful AoE effects that make it feel like your minions don’t matter.

There will always be cool, dreamy cards in Hearthstone—that's part of what makes Hearthstone Hearthstone—but these types of cards can sometimes be disproportionately more fun to play with than play against. We don’t want these kinds of cards to make up the most powerful and prevalent archetypes in the game, especially if they create metagames where player agency feels low.

There are a few categories of changes in this patch. The first is cards that can end the game quickly when played, and which warp the entire game around whether you get to play them at the right time. No Duplicate cards are also a subsection of this. Being able to draw your deck to avoid the downside of these cards is an interesting deck construction challenge, but it has in large part devolved into turbo-draw decks that tend to be less interactive and not in the spirit of these cards.

The second category is powerful, uncapped board clears. We’ve made and will continue to make AoE effects, but these particular instances are too efficient at clearing the board, making minion-based strategies feel helpless.

The third category is cards that are just a little too strong in their decks and should be toned down a bit. Similarly, our Wild changes are to some clear power and play experience outliers in that Mode.

Finally, we’re making some buffs, too! A lot of the changes we’re making in this patch are to weaken new cards or strategies that came from Whizbang’s Workshop, but we don’t want to just go back to the meta we had before the expansion. So we’ve identified some underperforming Whizbang’s Workshop archetypes that we think better align with our overall goals for the format and infusing them with a bit more power to give them another chance.

This probably won’t be a one-and-done fix. We’re going to keep an eye on the game after these changes go live and continue to push towards a game that aligns with our design philosophy. To read more about this general philosophy, check out our Developer Insights post on the topic from earlier this week.

The following cards have been adjusted to be weaker:

Reno, Lone Ranger

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]
• Dev Comment: All the Showdown in the Badlands “No Duplicate” cards are also getting a further adjustment to their conditional effect, discussed below.

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Virus Module)

• Old: 1/3. Stealth, Elusive, Poisonous, Reborn
• New: 1/4. Elusive, Poisonous, Reborn

Gaslight Gatekeeper

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Snake Oil (Generated by Miracle Salesman and Snake Oil Seller)

• Old: [0 Mana]
• New: [1 Mana]

Wheel of DEATH!!!

• No text change, but the wheel counts at the start of your turns instead of the end of your turns.

Forge of Wills

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Imprisoned Horror

• Old: 5/5
• New: 4/4

Timewinder Zarimi

• Old: Battlecry: Once per game, if you’ve summoned 5 other Dragons, take an extra turn.
• New: Battlecry: Once per game, if you’ve summoned 8 other Dragons, take an extra turn.

Threads of Despair

• Old: [1 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Sickly Grimewalker

• Old: [3 Mana] 2/4
• New: [4 Mana] 3/5

Sanitize

• Old: [5 Mana] Deal damage equal to your Armor to all minions. Forge: Gain 3 Armor first.
• New: [6 Mana] Deal damage equal to your Armor to all minions. Forge: Gain 4 Armor first.

Trial by Fire

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Boomboss Tho’grun

• Old: Battlecry: Shuffle 3 T.N.T. into your deck. When drawn, blow up a card in the enemy hand, deck, and board.
• New: Battlecry: Shuffle 3 T.N.T. into your opponent’s deck. When drawn, blow up a card in their hand, deck, and board.
• Dev Comment: T.N.T. can’t blow up other T.N.T..

Flash of Lightning

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [3 Mana]

Crash of Thunder

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Jungle Gym

• Old: 3 Durability
• New: 2 Durability

Time Warp (Open the Waygate’s Quest Reward)

• Old: Take an extra turn.
• New: Take an extra turn. (Once per game)

Floop’s Glorious Gloop

• Old: Whenever a minion dies this turn, gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only.
• New: Whenever a minion dies this turn, refresh a Mana Crystral.

Snowfall Graveyard

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

The above craftable cards, plus Miracle Salesman and Open the Waygate, will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 29.2.2.

The following cards are adjusted to be stronger:

All Showdown in the Badlands “No Duplicates” cards (Gunslinger Kurtrus, Rheastrasza, Theldurin the Lost, Spirit of the Badlands, Elise Badlands Savior, Doctor Holli’dae, Deepminer Brann, Maruut Stonebinder, and Reno Lone Ranger)

• Old: Battlecry effect if your deck has no duplicates when played.
• New: Battlecry effect if your deck had no duplicates at the start of the game.

Manufacturing Error

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Sunset Volley

• Old: [10 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]

Mes’Adune the Fractured

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Woodland Wonders

• Old: Summon two 1/5 Beetles with Taunt. Costs (3) less if you have Spell Damage.
• New: Summon two 2/5 Beetles with Taunt. Costs (3) less if you have Spell Damage.

Zok Fogsnout

• Old: [7 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Chia Drake

• Old: 2/4
• New: 3/5

Hagatha the Fabled

• Old: [5 Mana] 4/4
• New: [4 Mana] 4/3

Aftershocks

• Old: [5 Mana] Deal 1 damage to all minions, three times. Costs (2) less if you cast a spell last turn.
• New: [4 Mana] Deal 1 damage to all minions, three times. Costs (1) less if you cast a spell last turn.

Botface

• Old: 3/9
• New: 4/12

Toyrannosaurus

• Old: 7/6, Rush. Deathrattle: Deal 5 damage to a random enemy.
• New: 7/7, Rush. Deathrattle: Deal 7 damage to a random enemy.

Shoplifter Goldbeard

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

The Crystal Cove

• Old: The next minion you summon this turn has its stats set to 4/4.
• New: The next minion you summon this turn has its stats set to 5/5.

Crane Game

• Old: [9 Mana]
• New: [8 Mana]

Fly Off the Shelves

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [3 Mana]

Papercraft Angel

• Old: [3 Mana] 2/5
• New: [2 Mana] 2/3

Treasure Distributor

• Old: After you summon a Pirate, give it +1 Attack.
• New: After you summon a Pirate, give it and this minion +1 Attack.

Splendiferous Whizbang

• All Whizbang’s Experimental Decks except for Demon Hunter, Warlock, and Mage have been adjusted to be more Splendiferous.

Battlegrounds Updates

Dev Comment: Well met! We're so pleased that players have been enjoying the new Battlegrounds update as well as the new Duos mode! Overall, we are pretty happy with how both game modes are shaping up, but we wanted to help out some underperforming strategies. We went for a very wide approach this patch with a lot of smaller changes to smooth out the meta. We've also hit a few notable outliers, such as Greymane's Champion, Rylak Metalhead, Gem Smuggler, Iridescent Skyblazer, and Orc-estra Conductor, to give other cards more room to shine. We'll continue to monitor the game after these changes and make more adjustments as necessary. We hope you all have fun in the Tavern!

Hero Changes

Guff Runetotem

• Old: [2 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tier +2/+2.
• New: [1 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tier +2/+1.
• Dev Comment: Guff will also be going from 20 Armor to 10 Armor with this change.

Card Pool Changes

The following card have been removed from their respective card pools:

• The Uninvited Guest
  • Dev Comment: What part of “uninvited” did it not understand?
• Thorncaller
• Sacred Gift

The following cards have been added to their respective card pools:

• Humming Bird
• Prophet of the Boar
• Scarlet Skull
• Sister Deathwhisper
• Cloning Conch

Card Changes

Rylak Metalhead

• Old: 3/4. Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecries of adjacent minions.
• New: 5/3. Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecry of the minion to the left of this.

Goldshell Warden

• Old: 3/4. Battlecry: Give your other Beasts +1/+4.
• New: 2/4. Battlecry: Give your other Beasts +2/+4.

Iridescent Skyblazer

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/5
• New: [Tier 5] 3/8

Trigore the Lasher

• Old: [Tier 5] 6/2. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +2 Health permanently.
• New: [Tier 4] 8/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1 Health permanently.

Mechanized Gift Horse

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Spiked Savior

• Old: 12/4. Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 1 damage to your minions and give them +1 Health.
• New: 8/2. Taunt. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your minions +1 Health and deal 1 damage to them.

Octosari, Wrap God

• Old: 5/6. Deathrattle: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle. (It gains +2/+2 permanently after you summon a minion in combat!)
• New: 8/8. Deathrattle: Summon a 8/8 Tentacle. (It gains +2/+2 permanently after you summon a minion in combat!)

Goldrinn, the Great Wolf

• Old: 3/3. Deathrattle: For the rest of this combat, your Beasts have +3/+3.
• New: 4/4. Deathrattle: For the rest of this combat, your Beasts have +4/+4.

Fiery Felblood

• Old: 4/3. Deathrattle: Minions in the Tavern have +3 Attack this game.
• New: 3/2. Deathrattle: Minions in the Tavern have +2 Attack this game.

Backstage Security

• Old: 4/4
• New: 4/5

Wrath Weaver

• Old: 1/4
• New: 1/3

Crafty Aranasi

• Old: 1/8
• New: 3/10

False Implicator

• Old: 1/2
• New: 1/1

Misfit Dragonling

• Old: 1/2
• New: 2/1

Blazing Skyfin

• Old: 1/3
• New: 2/4

Electric Synthesizer

• Old: [Tier 4] 4/3
• New: [Tier 3] 3/3

Draconic Deathscale

• Old: [Tier 4] 6/3
• New: [Tier 5] 8/3

Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect

• Old: 2/10
• New: 4/12

Molten Rock

• Old: 3/1
• New: 3/2

Party Elemental

• Old: 3/2
• New: 4/2

Crackling Cyclone

• Old: 3/1
• New: 4/1

Wildfire Elemental

• Old: [Tier 4] 8/4
• New: [Tier 3] 6/3

Recycling Wraith

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/2
• New: [Tier 4] 5/4

Land Lubber

• Old: 4/5
• New: 5/7

Zilliax (All Modules)

• Old: 4/3
• New: 3/4

Scrap Scraper

• Old: 6/5. Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.
• New: 5/5. Battlecry and Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.

Utility Drone

• Old: 3/4. At the end of your turn, give your minions +1/+1 for each Magnetization they have.
• New: 4/4. At the end of your turn, give your minions +2/+1 for each Magnetization they have.

Augmented Laborer

• Old: 1/6
• New: 3/8

Charging Czarina

• Old: 4/2. Divine Shield. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions with Divine Shield +3 Attack.
• New: 5/3. Divine Shield. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions with Divine Shield +2 Attack.

Very Hungry Winterfinner

• Old: Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give a minion in your hand +1/+1.
• New: Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give a minion in your hand +2/+1.

Murgl Mk II

• Old: 2/4. Avenge (3): Give minions in your hand and board +1/+1 permanently.
• New: 2/4. Avenge (4): Give minions in your hand and board +1/+1 permanently.

Bream Counter

• Old: 6/6. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +2/+2.
• New: 5/5. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+2.

Magmaloc

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Primalfin Lookout

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 5]

The Glad-iator

• Old: 1/1
• New: 3/3

Deep Blue Crooner

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/2
• New: [Tier 3] 4/4

Zesty Shaker

• Old: [Tier 3] 3/4
• New: [Tier 4] 6/6

Defiant Shipwright

• Old: 2/4
• New: 2/5

Timecap’n Hooktail

• Old: 1/5. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your other minions +1 Attack.
• New: 2/5. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions +1 Attack.

Record Smuggler

• Old: 5/4. At the start of your turn, gain 1 Gold. Repeat for each other Pirate.
• New: 6/6. At the start of your turn, gain 2 Gold. If you control at least three Pirates, gain 2 more.

Gem Smuggler

• Old: [Tier 5] 4/3. Battlecry: Play 2 Blood Gems on all your other minions.
• New: [Tier 4] 3/4. Battlecry: Play a Blood Gem on all your other minions.

Harmless Bonehead

• Old: 0/2
• New: 1/1

Hateful Hag

• Old: 4/2
• New: 6/2

Hungering Abomination

• Old: 3/4
• New: 6/7

Moroes, Steward of Death

• Old: 5/2. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+5.
• New: 4/2 Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+4.

Fire Dancer

• Old: 4/2
• New: 5/2

Winged Chimera

• Old: 3/6. Whenever this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
• New: 1/5. Whenever this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1 permanently. (3 times per combat.)

Ensorcelled Fungus

• Old: Has +1/+2 for each Tavern spell you’ve cast this game (wherever this is).
• New: Has +2/+2 for each Tavern spell you’ve cast this game (wherever this is).

Unforgiving Treant

• Old: 2/12. Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give your minions +1 Attack permanently.
• New: 3/12. Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give your minions +2 Attack permanently.

Nalaa the Redeemer

• Old: 5/7. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
• New: 5/6. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+2.

Greymane’s Champion

• Old: 6/5. After you play an even-Tiered card, give your other even-Tier minions +2/+2.
• New: 6/6. After you play an even-Tiered card, give your even-Tier minions +1/+1.

Mooneater’s Champion

• Old: 7/8. After you play an odd-Tier card, give your other odd-Tier minions +1/+1.
• New: 5/5. After you play an odd-Tier card, give your odd-Tier minions +1/+1.

Corrupted Cupcakes

• Old: [3 Gold]
• New: [4 Gold]

Them Apples

• Old: Give minions in the Tavern +1/+3.
• New: Give minions in the Tavern +1/+2.

Boon of Beetles

• Old: [Tier 3] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle. (3 left!)
• New: [Tier 4] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle with Taunt. (4 left!)

Suspicious Stimulant

• Old: [Tier 3, 3 Gold]
• New: [Tier 4, 4 Gold]

Scavenge for Parts

• Old: [4 Gold]
• New: [2 Gold]

Cloning Conch

• Old: Get a copy of a non-Golden Murloc in your hand.
• New: Get a random Murloc and a copy of it.

Card Changes (Duos Only)

Passenger

• Old: 2/3. The first time your team Passes each turn, gain +2/+2.
• New: 2/2. The first time your team Passes each turn, gain +1/+2.

Generous Geomancer

• Old: 2/1
• New: 1/1

Orc-estra Conductor

• Old: 2/2. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+2. Improve your team’s future Orc-estra Conductors.
• New: 4/2. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+1. (Upgraded for each Orc-estra Conductor your team has played this game)

Magnanimoose

• No text change. Now only summons up to one copy of each of your teammate’s minions.

Puddle Prancer

• Old: 3/3. After this is Passed, gain +3/+3.
• New: 4/4. After this is Passed, gain +4/+4.

Man’ari Messenger

• Old: 7/4. Battlecry: Minions in your team’s Taverns have +2/+1 this game.
• New: 8/5. Battlecry: Minions in your team’s Taverns have +1/+1 this game.

Catch

• Old: Give your minions +3 Attack. (Upgrades by +3 Attack after this is Passed!)
• New: Give your minions +2 Attack. (Upgrades by +2 Attack after this is Passed!)

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Battlegrounds] Recruitment Program will now be unable to triple in your hand before the recruit is passed to your teammate.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where, if Millhouse Manastorm beat both your opponents, his Tavern Refresh cost of 2 Gold would also affect your teammate.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Plunder Pal didn’t grant your teammate Gold.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where using Suspicious Stimulant on a minion caused errors with Jandice Barov’s Hero Power.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Felboar would consume a minion in the Tavern before the Tavern Spell takes effect.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Magnetized enchantments on a Magnetic minion wouldn't carry over if the minion was tripled.
• [Battlegrounds] Sped up Mirror Monster’s visual effect.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where Top Teamwork progressed based on solo games as well.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where Floop de Loop progressed even when you weren’t the one playing with Floop.

Patch 29.2, launching on April 16, brings Battlegrounds Duos and Season 7, Once Upon a Tavern!

This story has lots of chapters, so you can use this Table of Contents to help you find what you need:

Patch 29.0.3, launching today, includes the following balance changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: We hope you’re enjoying Whizbang’s Workshop so far! We’ve seen you experimenting with lots of new cards and archetypes across most classes—and finding a few outliers. This patch is mostly to weaken those outliers and to offer a couple higher-confidence buffs based on early data.

The following cards have been adjusted to be weaker:

Tigress Plushy

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Deputization Aura

• Old: Your left-most minion has +3 Attack and Lifesteal. Lasts 3 turns.
• New: Your left-most minion has +1 Attack and Lifesteal. Lasts 3 turns.

Shroomscavate

• Old: [3 Mana] Give a minion Windfury and Divine Shield. Excavate a Treasure.
• New: [2 Mana] Give a minion Divine Shield. Excavate a Treasure.

Dev Comment: Paladin is the biggest power outlier since launch, with lots of damage from hand and healing. We like the overall play pattern of the deck, but we’re making these adjustments to tone down those two overperforming aspects of it.

Awakening Tremors

• Old: Get three 4/1 Worms. They cost (1).
• New: Get three 3/1 Worms. They cost (1).

Dev Comment: Hunter is another class that has overperformed in the early meta. Awakening Tremors is a card that has been played in almost all Hunter decks for some time now, and which can make for some really early snowballs. Shaving a little power from it should help keep other decks from falling too far behind as early as turns 1-2.

Thrall’s Gift

• Old: Discover a temporary Lightning Bolt, Hex, or Bloodlust.
• New: Discover a temporary Lightning Storm, Hex, or Bloodlust.

Dev Comment: Nature Shaman is primarily a sentiment outlier, with access to a lot of damage very early in the game. However, it’s also expected to get a better matchup spread after the other changes being made in this patch. This change removes some of that burst damage and redundancy in the deck. We think Lightning Storm is another good and flavorful option for Thrall’s Gift, weakening this specific deck, but offering options to other Shaman decks that weren’t there before.

Aftershocks

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Odyn, Prime Designate

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]

Dev Comment: Warrior is another class that is looking very strong in the early meta, and which is likely to get even stronger after the other changes in this patch. Aftershocks combined with Acolyte of Pain to let Warrior draw too quickly through its deck for its powerful late-game cards. We’re making these changes to make that endgame a little slower and less consistent.

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Ticking Module)

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Dev Comment: The reception to Zilliax Deluxe 3000 has been just about... perfection. We love all the different variations people are trying, but Ticking Module was proving to be a bit too efficient. We hope this change will bring this Zilliax more into line with overall power level and also encourage more continued Zilliax variety.

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 29.0.3.

The following cards have been adjusted to be stronger:

Dev Comment: We don’t usually make buffs this early in a meta, but this time we were able to see a couple buff targets even in the very early data. We’ll keep an eye on these changes and look out for more opportunities in our next balance window, when we’ll have more data to inform these types of changes.

Sky Mother Aviana

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Frost Lich Cross-Stitch

• Old: [5 Mana] Deal 4 damage to a character. If it dies, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental that Freezes.
• New: [4 Mana] Deal 3 damage to a character. If it dies, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental that Freezes.

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest and Quest Reward Updates

The following Quests have been made easier to complete, but can no longer be paired with low-requirement Quest Rewards:

• Follow the Money
• Pressure the Authorities
• Dev Comment: These changes should reduce the frequency of Quest-Reward pairs that feel too easy or too difficult to complete.

The following Quests have been removed from the Quest Pool:

• Exhume the Bones
• Sort it All Out
• Dev Comment: These Quests had too many situations where they were either very difficult or trivially easy based on your early board, rather than the Reward they were paired with. Removing these two from the Quest Pool will make Quest-Reward pairings smoother and more consistent across games.

The following Quest Rewards have been made easier to earn:

• Splitting Scroll
• Gift of the Golden Kobold
• Temporal Tampering
• Anima Bribe
• Cooked Book
• Wondrous Wisdomball
• Boom Squad
• Bloodsoaked Tome

The following Quest Rewards have been made harder to earn:

• Sinfall Medallion
• Stable Amalgamation
• Tumbling Disaster
• Turbulent Tombs
• Gilnean War Horn

The following Quest Rewards have had their effects updated:

Sinfall Medallion

• Old: After you play a minion, give 2 other friendly minions of its Tier +2/+2.
• New: After you play a minion, give 2 other friendly minions of its Tier +4/+4.

Minion Updates

Moroes, Steward of Death

• Old: 5/1. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +1/+5.
• New: 5/2. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+5.

Felboar

• Old: [Tier 6] 3/8
• New: [Tier 5] 2/6

Tichondrius

• Old: 4/4. After your hero takes damage, give your other Demons +1/+1.
• New: 3/3. After your hero takes damage, give your Demons +1/+1.

Living Azerite

• Old: [Tier 4] 4/4
• New: [Tier 3] 3/3

Wildfire Elemental

• Old: [Tier 3] 6/3
• New: [Tier 4] 8/4

Bream Counter

• Old: 5/5. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+3.
• New: 6/6. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +2/+2.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Shudderblock couldn’t deal damage to the enemy hero if played and then its effect was not consumed.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Warsong Wrangler could buff the King Krush hero skin. You can’t wrangle the King!
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where there were different versions of Air Elemental in Core and Journey to Un’Goro. Now, both versions will have 3 Attack.
• [Battlegrounds] Cloning Conch will remain removed from the Tavern Spell pool with this patch.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Turbulent Tombs, Gilnean War Horn, Secret Culprit, and Ghastly Mask had the wrong completion difficulty modifiers (sometimes making them too easy to complete, sometimes making them too hard to complete).
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Free-Flying Feathermane’s effect could trigger during the Recruit phase.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the “destroy Jepetto Joymancer” condition didn’t progress the Toymaker’s Trouble Event Quest.
• [General] Fixed various localization issues across languages.

Happy anniversary! Today, March 11, marks 10 years since the launch of Hearthstone. We’re celebrating with a Community Day and Patch 29.0, including the groundwork for Whizbang’s Workshop, the Core Set rotation, in-game rewards, and more!

Schedule and Quick Reference

There’s a lot happening with this patch, so we’ve organized it into a quick breakdown. You can click on the links to jump to that portion of the Patch Notes.

With the launch of Whizbang’s Workshop comes a new Rewards Track, filled with XP boosts, cards, Gold, and more. On top of that, Showdown in the Badlands Rewards Track achievements will continue granting XP even after the Rewards Track rolls over! Check out the Rewards Track Refresh blog for details.

Community Day Starts Today!

Celebrate 10 years of Hearthstone with 10 rewards in 24 hours! From March 11, 10:00 a.m. (PDT) to March 12, 10:00 a.m. (PDT) you can earn the following drops to enjoy across Hearthstone modes, just for watching any Hearthstone stream:

• 1st Drop: 1 Festival of Legends Card Pack and Crystal Justice Epic Battlegrounds Strike
• 2nd Drop: 1 TITANS Card Pack and 1 Showdown in the Badlands Card Pack
• 3rd Drop: 2 Tavern Tickets
• 4th Drop: 2 Whizbang’s Workshop Card Packs
• 5th Drop: 1 Golden Whizbang’s Workshop Card Pack and Harth Stonebrew Battlegrounds Bartender

Tune in to your favorite streamers and join them in this celebration of Hearthstone’s community! Make sure you link your Twitch and Battle.net accounts so that your viewing time counts towards the drops.

Whizbang Workshop Theorycrafting Streams

Join your favorite content creators as they step into Whizbang’s Workshop before its doors open to the public. Invited players will be streaming their participation on their own personal streams, so make sure that you’re following your favorite Hearthstone creators and tune in when they go live!

• NA/LATAM/EMEA players will play on March 13, 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (PDT)
• APAC players will play on March 14, 2:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (PDT)

All participants need to include at least 10 Whizbang’s Workshop cards in their decks (that can be 10 individual cards, 5 duplicates, or anything in between) or have Splendiferous Whizbang as their deck.

Your favorite casters will also be returning to call the shots with the official Theorycasting event, on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel. Join them as they jump between games of all participating players and provide their expert commentary.

• Sottle, Raven, Lorinda, and Edelweiss will be casting on March 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. (PDT).

Twitch Drops will be enabled category-wide from March 13, 9:00 a.m. to March 14, 9:00 a.m. (PDT), so you can watch any Hearthstone stream you’d like and earn up to 2 Whizbang’s Workshop packs! In addition to category-wide Twitch Drops, all participating streamers will have Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle codes to give away to their respective audiences during the event!

Hearthstone Card Updates

New Cards

Warcraft Rumble can’t wait to join us for the birthday festivities! Four new Warcraft Rumble themed cards will be added directly into the free Core Set today, with Patch 29.0!

Card Adjustments

Several balance changes throughout the years were made because cards were too powerful for Standard, even if not necessarily too powerful in Wild. On March 11, with Patch 29.0, the following cards will be adjusted. Most of these changes are to cards currently in Standard, in anticipation of their rotation into Wild on March 19.

The following cards will be reverted to their original form:

• Blightfang
• Glacial Advance
• Construct Quarter
• Relic of Dimensions
• Felscale Evoker
• Wild Growth
• Miracle Growth
• Spirit Poacher
• Stag Charge
• Wild Spirits
• Ara’lon
• Hope of Quel’thalas
• Faithful Companions
• Arcane Wyrm
• Nightcloak Sanctum
• Spitelash Siren
• Feast and Famine
• The Purator
• Lightray
• Boon of the Ascended
• High Cultist Basaleph
• Scribbling Stenographer
• Vile Library
• From the Depths
• Thori'belore
• Nellie, the Great Thresher
• Pufferfist
• School Teacher
• Smothering Starfish
• Prince Renathal

The following cards will be updated or reverted as follows:

Death Blossom Whomper

• [5 Mana] 6/5.

Halduron Brightwing

• [3 Mana] 3/4. Battlecry: Give all Arcane spells in your hand and deck Spell Damage +1.

Switcheroo

• [5 Mana] Draw 2 minions. Swap their Health.
• No longer banned in Wild.

Tome Tampering

• [6 Mana]
• No longer banned in Wild.

Mechwarper (Mech)

• [4 Mana] 4/4. Your Mechs cost (1) less.
• No longer banned in Wild.

Balance changes to Core Set cards will also take place on March 11. See the Core Set blog for details.

The Year of the Pegasus Takes Off

When Whizbang’s Workshop goes live on March 19, so will the start of the next Hearthstone year: the Year of the Pegasus. At that time, cards from the Year of the Hydra (Voyage to the Sunken City, Murder at Castle Nathria, March of the Lich King, and Path of Arthas) rotate out of Standard. The Core Set rotation—cards leaving and entering Core—will also happen on March 19.

Battlegrounds Updates

• Greta Gold-Gun is returning to the minion pool.
• Stay tuned for news about our next major Battlegrounds update in the coming weeks... some might say it’s double the fun!

Arena Updates

On March 11, all ongoing Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. Celebrate 10 years of Hearthstone with this special Arena Season that includes cards across all Hearthstone expansions! Instead of a group of sets that apply to all classes, each class has its own curated list of cards that can include cards from any expansion. The first pick of each Arena draft will be a Legendary card, which will be the only Legendary card offered in your draft. Duels Treasures have been removed from Arena drafts.

Signature Frame Update

We’ve made a new frame for Signature cards in Whizbang’s Workshop! The rarity gems on these Signature cards are also differently shaped for different rarities, making them more accessible and easier to read.

This new frame pulls from general Hearthstone aesthetics, but is flexible enough to work with a variety of Signature card themes. All current Signature cards will remain unchanged, but all future Signature cards will use this new frame. The art style within each frame will update to match the feel and themes of each expansion.

Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs

Catch-Up Packs are back for Whizbang’s Workshop! Just like Showdown in the Badlands Catch-Up Packs, Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs include 5-50 cards from previous Standard sets, depending on your collection completion levels for those sets. However, because of the Standard rotation, there are only three eligible sets for Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs: Festival of Legends, TITANS, and Showdown in the Badlands. Since these packs pull from three sets instead of five, the details have shifted to meet the overall goal of still giving 5-50 total cards per pack. You can read all the specifics on the updated Disclosure Page.

This new breakdown only applies to 3-set Catch-Up Packs (currently only Whizbang’s Workshop). 5-set Catch-Up Packs (currently only Showdown in the Badlands) will still work as they did before. Each type of Catch-Up Pack is distinct and pulls from an established pool of cards, meaning that Badlands Catch-Up Packs are not updating to Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs or changing in any way with rotation.

10-Year Anniversary Card Back

Celebrate 10 years in style! Log in today and complete a special Legendary Quest to earn the 10-Year Anniversary Card Back.

In-Game Event: Whizbang’s Workshop

Take a tour of Whizbang’s Workshop! From March 26 to April 16, complete Event Quests to earn Event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 5 Standard Packs, 2 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs, and the Bobble Mal’Ganis Warlock Hero Skin.

New Legendary Hero Skin: Leeroy the Legend

Get the most legendary of Legendary Hero Skins: Leeroy the Legend! From pauldrons to poultry, this Paladin has it all. Available starting March 19.

WoW Joins the Celebration

World of Warcraft joins the Hearthstone celebration! Starting on March 11, at 10:00 a.m. (PDT), Warcraft players can login to Hearthstone to get a new Fiery Hearthsteed World of Warcraft mount for free!* Also, enjoy a week of special “Hearthstone” matches, Hearthstone-themed encounters, and Hearthstone-themed rewards!

* No additional purchase necessary for the Fiery Hearthsteed mount. Limited-time offer only available to those who login to Hearthstone between March 11 and May 14. Mount not available in World of Warcraft® Classic games.

Hearthstone: Music of the Tavern

Celebrate ten years with the sounds of the tavern. Hearthstone: Music from the Tavern (Anniversary Picks) features 31 of Hearthstone’s iconic in-game tracks, available now on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube, and Deezer!

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Rules change! Temporary mana (such as from the Coin or Innervate) can now make you go above max mana. This applies to the base max mana of 10 and to any modified max mana, like if you’ve played Wildheart Guff or Audio Amplifier.
• [Hearthstone] Another rules change! You can now have multiple of the same Sigil, Objective, or Aura in play at the same time. Secrets, Quests, Questlines, Sidequests, and Battlegrounds effects that use the Secret Zone are still restricted to one instance in play at a time.
• [Hearthstone] Wrath of Air Totem is back, in place of Strength Totem, in the Shaman Hero Power pool.
• [Hearthstone] Paladin has expanded its recruiting efforts! Now, whenever you summon a Silver Hand Recruit, it will be one of 7 different art pieces (6 new recruits and the original).
• [Hearthstone] Like card backs and hero skins, you are now able to favorite more than one Coin. Decks can now use a random favorite Coin, a random owned Coin, or one specific Coin.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Harth Stonebrew’s Iconic Demon Hunter hand wasn’t iconic enough: the cards in that specific hand will now be their launch versions. We’ve also adjusted the hand order to make it flow better with Outcast effects.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug causing a disconnect when an effect summoned a Colossal minion into play when Reno, Lone Ranger’s standoff was in effect.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Velarok, the Deceiver didn’t count as a Dragon after transforming.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Frost Plague’s debuff would be re-applied if it applied to a minion that was then stolen.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Summoning Ward attempts to trigger even if your board is full.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Harvester of Envy wouldn’t steal an original card copied with Shattered Reflections.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Keywarden Ivory could only discover from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and Scholomance Academy.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where players couldn’t scroll all the way to the bottom of Twist decks on mobile.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug where Frozen Signature cards lacked the Frozen U.I.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where “Come One, Come All” (Silas Darkmoon’s Hero Power) wouldn’t progress if the minion holding the Darkmoon Ticket was your last minion for a Golden minion.
• [Arena] Fixed a bug where Horn of the Ancients wouldn’t grant Colossal minions if it was generated when they weren’t in the card set pool.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the “It’s 12 O’Clock” Achievement wouldn’t progress.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the “All Werked Up” Achievement didn’t count minions destroyed in hand.
• [General] Improved tooltip effects, including fixing some bugs where certain tooltips were cut off.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Patch 28.6.2, launching today, includes the following changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: We have two goals this patch. First, we want to weaken some of the meta outliers. Second, we want to experiment with smaller buffs across several cards that are rotating out of Standard soon—especially in classes that are currently weaker—to see if we can give them one last hurrah. Our hope is that players will try out and enjoy some of these strategies during these last few weeks before they go. This is an experiment, so we’ll be tracking player sentiment and play data to see if this works out.

The following cards were adjusted to be less powerful:

Sludge on Wheels

• Old: 2/5
• New: 2/4

Waste Remover

• Old: 7/7
• New: 5/7

Chaos Creation

• Old: Deal 6 damage. Summon a random 6-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 6 cards of your deck.
• New: Deal 5 damage. Summon a random 5-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 5 cards of your deck.

Dev comment: When talking about our first goal, to curb power outliers, Warlock is the primary clear outlier across almost all ranks. The deck is strong at all phases of the game, so we’re toning down its mid-game and its late-game burst to bring it into line.

Shattered Reflections

• Old: Choose a minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.
• New: Choose a non-Titan minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.

Dev comment: Ramp-style Druid is not a power outlier at most levels of play, but it is becoming a prevalent power and sentiment outlier at high Legend ranks. Titans were designed to be unique, cards with powerful effects that you can activate maybe a few times per game, not 10 times. We still want the Titans to be those cool, stand-out powerful cards, so we’re removing them from the pool of cards Shattered Reflections can target.

Blindeye Sharpshooter

• Old: [3 Mana] 1/3
• New: [4 Mana] 3/3

Dev Comment: Demon Hunter has had its ups and downs. Now it’s in an interesting spot where it isn’t seeing much play or success at most levels of play, but is a consistent sentiment outlier for high-Legend players. Specifically, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that players don’t like that this one card can generate that much damage, that early in the game. We’re slowing the card down by a turn to make that burst damage slower and clunkier, and buffing other Demon Hunter archetypes in this patch for fans of the class throughout the ladder.

The cards above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.6.2.

The following cards were adjusted to be more powerful:

Blightblood Berserker

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

From De Other Side

• Old: [10 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]

Harkener of Dread

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a 6/6 Undead with Taunt.
• New: Taunt, Reborn. Deathrattle: Summon a 4/4 Undead with Taunt.

Scourge Tamer

• Old: [2 Mana] 2/2
• New: [1 Mana] 1/2

Coilskar Commander

• Old: 2/6
• New: 3/7

Deal with a Devil

• Old: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon another.
• New: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon two more.

Topple the Idol

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Mark of Scorn

• Old: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 3 damage to the lowest Health enemy.
• New: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 4 damage to the lowest Health enemy.

Trench Surveyor

• Old: [2 Mana] 3/2
• New: [1 Mana] 2/1

Energy Shaper

• Old: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (2) more. (They keep their original Cost.)
• New: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (3) more. (They keep their original Cost.)

Sunken Sweeper (generated by Azsharan Sweeper)

• Old: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand.
• New: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand. They cost (1) less.

Mysterious Visitor

• Old: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (2).
• New: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (3).

Incriminating Psychic

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy a random card from your opponent’s hand.
• New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy two random cards from your opponent’s hand.

Pirate Admiral Hooktusk

• Old: [8 Mana] 8/8. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 8 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!
• New: [7 Mana] 7/7. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 7 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!

Demolition Renovator

• Old: [4 Mana] 4/4
• New: [3 Mana] 3/3

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest Reward Pool Changes

• Sturdy Shard has been removed from the Quest Reward Pool.
• Double-Headed Reward has been banned from Jandice Barov.
• Stable Amalgamation has been made more difficult to complete in Beast games.
• Beyond the Mirage and Temporal Tampering have been made more difficult to complete in Elemental or Pirate games.

Quest Reward Changes

Divine Armor

• Old: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
• New: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +8/+8 and Divine Shield.

Ritual Dagger

• Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently.
• New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +5/+5 permanently.

Mirror Shield

• Old: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield.
• New: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +6/+6 and Divine Shield.

Minion Pool Updates

• Heedless Hoarder and Worgen Vigilante have been removed from the Minion Pool.
• Felfin Navigator and Zapp Slywick have been returned to the Minion Pool.

Minion Updates

Land Lubber

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 4]

Moon-Bacon Jazzer

• Old: [Tier 2] 2/3
• New: [Tier 3] 2/5

Crackling Cyclone

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/1
• New: [Tier 2] 3/1

Wildfire Elemental

• Old: [Tier 4] 7/4
• New: [Tier 3] 6/3

Felboar

• Old: 1/4. After you cast 3 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
• New: 3/8. After you cast 2 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.

Zapp Slywick

• Old: 8/16
• New: 11/22

Tavern Spell Updates

Suspicious Stimulant

• Old: [2 Gold] Freeze a minion in the Tavern. If it’s Frozen at the end of this turn, double its stats.
• New: [3 Gold] Choose a minion in the Tavern. Lock it in your hand for one turn and double its stats.

Fluidity

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 5]

Cloning Conch

• Old: [5 Gold] Get a copy of a Murloc in your hand.
• New: [4 Gold] Get a copy of a non-Golden Murloc in your hand.

Spitescale Special

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 4]
• Dev Comment: While moving a card up a Tavern Tier usually weakens it, in this case we see this change more as a buff. This is because Tier 4 Tavern Spells have more copies in the pool than other Tiers, and because the Spellcraft pool becomes a lot stronger at Tier 4 with the inclusion of Deep Blues.

Plunder Seeker

• Old: [6 Gold]
• New: [7 Gold]

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Malfurion the Pestilent in Harth’s Iconic Druid hand didn’t grant Armor when played.
• [Battlegrounds] Returned Queen Azshara, Infinite Toki, and Aranna Starseeker to the Hero Pool.
• [Battlegrounds] Removed Fungalmancer Flurgl’s Hero Power from Master Nguyen’s Hero Power Pool.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Sire Denathrius’s Hero Power version of Untamed Sorcery could cast Unmasked Identity.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Open Auditions didn’t work.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Malchezaar, Prince of Dance’s effect did not reset when using Fluidity or Swap, Lock, and Shop It.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where minions buffed by Suspicious Stimulant couldn’t be further buffed after playing.